Company floats alternate plan for offshore Fall River LNG berth

Friday

Mar 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM

BOSTON — The company hoping to build an LNG terminal near Fall River is floating the idea of building an offshore berth instead that would allow tankers to unload the liquefied natural gas into a 4-mile pipeline.

STEVE LeBLANC

BOSTON — The company hoping to build an LNG terminal near Fall River is floating the idea of building an offshore berth instead that would allow tankers to unload the liquefied natural gas into a 4-mile pipeline.

The plan, which is still in the earliest design stages, is designed to blunt criticism of the existing proposal by Weaver's Cove Energy to build an LNG terminal in Fall River that would require tankers to make their way up the Taunton River.

Critics, including Fall River officials and members of the state's congressional delegation, have worked to block the proposal, saying it poses an unacceptable risk to the heavily populated area. There also has been opposition in Rhode Island.

The president of Weaver's Cove Energy, owned by Hess LNG, says the company is still forging ahead with the original plan but wants to have an alternative plan on hand just in case. The new plan is also intended as a challenge to critics, Gordon Shearer said.

"They've painted a picture that has scared the living daylights out of people with the prospect of tankers," Shearer said Thursday.

"This is a way of directly trying to address those (critics) to see if that is really the concern or if the concern is that they don't want it here under any circumstance," he added.

Under the new plan, a berthing structure would be built in Mount Hope Bay about a mile from the nearest shore and 2 miles south of the Braga Bridge.

A 4-mile LNG pipeline would be buried in a trench beneath portions of Mount Hope Bay and Taunton River leading to an LNG storage and processing terminal located on the banks of the river.

The LNG would be stored at the terminal until it was turned back into gas for delivery through pipelines to homes and businesses throughout the region. LNG would also be trucked from the terminal to other LNG storage tanks throughout New England.

Advocates, elected officials and local residents were unimpressed with the new plan.

"It doesn't really change our position," said Joe Carvalho, who lives a mile from site and heads a local opposition group. Carvalho said neighbors are still concerned about the storage of the LNG and the truck traffic in and out of the facility that would be needed to transport the fuel.

Environmentalists said the new plan is still problematic.

The Conservation Law Foundation has taken legal action to block the initial plan because of the dredging that would be required along the Taunton River, which is being considered for protected status under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Shearer said the new plan would require far less dredging, but advocates say they're skeptical.

"It sounds like it would entail a lot of the same environmental impacts like dredging in a river that's under consideration by Congress as a Wild and Scenic and River," said Sue Reid, CLF staff attorney. "This should be seen as an admission by Weaver's Cove that their Fall River LNG project is deeply flawed and that its permitting is doomed."

State Sen. Joan Menard, D-Fall River, was also cool to the idea.

"I'm not sure it's acceptable," she said. "My initial thought is that the LNG is still going to be stored in the tanks in the middle of Fall River."

The original terminal plan was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2005 and has the support of local unions. Fall River has spent at least $1.4 million fighting the project.

The Coast Guard has raised concerns that the path along the river approaching the terminal is unsafe for navigation by massive LNG tankers.

A major problem is the relatively short distance between two bridges on the Taunton River. The Coast Guard found the safety risks of the tankers navigating the 1,100-foot gap were too great.

The bridges became obstacles to the project after maneuvering by opponents. The old Brightman Street Bridge was slated for demolition, but was preserved as a pedestrian walkway when opponents realized they could use it to stop the project.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is chilled to 260 degrees below zero, reducing its volume so it can be transported in a tanker. Once brought ashore it is warmed so that it again becomes natural gas.

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